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Midlands Review - Deeds Not Words

By midlandsmovies, Mar 24 2019 08:08AM

Midlands Review - Deeds Not Words

Directed by Coralie Hudson

2018

Well... It looks like the Midlands has produced yet another solid little film.

This time, it comes in the form of Deeds Not Words, a short that takes a look at the Suffragette movement on a more local scale than perhaps most of us learnt about at school. The film is divided into three parts, focusing in on three different women who all got involved in the movement at some point.

I really love the thought that has gone into the structure of the film before we even get into any of the nitty gritty stuff. The chapter headings for each part of the film are colour-coded to match the Suffragette flag, and the themes of each part represent the values that the movement held as it fought for women to gain the right to vote.

I thought this attention to detail by director Coralie Kate Hudson was wonderful, and displayed a true passion and dedication to the story that she was telling through the film. When filmmakers feel this way about anything they decide to make the subject of a project, it truly works wonders in elevating a film to another level entirely.

The first third of the film centres around the theme of dignity, and I thought this to be the best of the three acts. The speech that we see being rehearsed is well written and tremendously delivered by Lisa Blissitt, who played Sarah E. Woodward in the film. I think it perfectly encapsulated this first theme, and was definitely my favourite part.

A lot of planning seems to have gone into the presentation of this film. Obviously as this is a period piece, I was expecting to see costumes, hair and make-up to fit the time period, although one always fears - or at least, I do - that really a big budget is a necessity in order to create a look that is convincing enough to transport viewers back to the time in which a story is set. It would seem, however, that those fears were entirely unfounded because the costumes put together here were fantastic, and when paired with some of the locations where the film was shot, absolutely smacked of the early 1900s.

The final touches that just added an extra little something to this film came during the post-production stages, and more specifically, the colour grading process. The faded film look that was added gives a sense of times gone by, but there’s a touch of warmth that reminds us that this movement was one of the better things to have happened throughout history. Again, it’s a little attention to small details that has added masses to the final product.

Overall, I think Deeds Not Words is a splendid short film that deserves to be seen by many. So much work has gone into making sure this could turn out as well as it has for it to be missed. It’s a true reflection of how every element and stage of the filmmaking process can come together to produce magnificent results regardless of budget, and that is the only reason anyone should need to watch it.